


Low level space smuggling

by varevare (varebanos)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Fluff, Getting Together, Hitchhiking, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 18:43:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12870714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/varebanos/pseuds/varevare
Summary: Lance's piloting back to the Garrison's Space Station when he receives a distress signal. And of course, he's there to save the day.





	Low level space smuggling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [winterysomnium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterysomnium/gifts).



> A birthday gift for Winterysomnium!! She's an amazing friend and deserves the world, [go wish her a happy birthday](http://winterysomnium.tumblr.com/ask)!
> 
> Also this is just an oneshot, I'm still working and heading right back into It's Just A Test Drive after this!

_ Distress signal detected.  _

_ 11 degrees off route. _

Huh. Lance rubbed his eyes and leaned closer towards the glowing screen. It was the strongest light inside the small ship, having dimmed the rest some minutes before hoping to take a nap. The trip back to the station always got boring. The region between the station and his home quadrant -good ol’ Earth- was pretty devoid of traffic besides other human students and some workers. No pirates, no exotic alien misunderstandings.

So what the heck was a distress signal doing right past the Oort cloud? Technical issues? Had to be. Lance opened up more readings, already getting excited. He might not be a heroic pilot -yet. But nothing could stop him from saving the day, even if he had to do it in his battered, old pod.

“Blue, baby, we’re picking up a hitchhiker. Don’t tell mom, okay?”

_ Calling: Mamá. _

“No no no no no cancel, don’t do that. Jesus, I need to get that update fixed.” Lance watched with relief the phone icon fade out. “Alright, let’s reroute the course. What’s our ETA?”

The countdown appeared on the screen, already replanning his original route after the detour. Even longer, then - 3 days at least - but the extra excitement might be worth it. And the helping, of course, always.

He’d dozed off again when the chime woking up.  _ Destination reached _ . Lance turned on the screens again to see what he was dealing with.

The red ship wasn’t quite what he’d expected. Definitely more expensive than his own pod, and not any brand he could recognize. Lance wasn’t an expert, but he considered himself to be an aficionado. It looked custom made. Not the kind of ship that would just crash down on a simple route.

Before he could reconsider his plans, however, an incoming signal warned him that the ship was requesting permission to dock. Great. Completely suspicious ship had noticed and, very possibly, registered Lance. Now he’d have to spend the rest of his life running away from the space mafia.

He was getting ahead of himself. Opening another window, he sent a message, ignoring the request.

“ _ What’s the matter?” _

He waited ten long seconds before a response appeared.

“ _ Ship won’t work. Are you going to Gliese? Just need a ride.” _

Lance pondered his options. He could get away, leaving some unknown traveler stranded with rapidly dwindling oxygen and supplies, or-

Yeah, there was no way future space hero Lance was going to do that.

“ _ Sure, I’ll set it up.”  _ What mama didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

Soon enough, Lance’s cargo door lit up and the camera there showed him a figure stepping inside with a duffle bag. Skinny guy, alone, no visible weapons. The camera didn’t have the best angle and obscured the face, but still. Not too bad. The man also did all the lock up protocols properly. 

Yup, everything was good. No surprises. With a relieved smile, Lance unstrapped himself from the pilot chair and went to receive him.

The entrance to the cargo area was barely two meters behind him. Old Blue was practically the smallest ship available for interstellar travel to the public, but the design was tried and true. Still going strong after a century in production. Not the prettiest - not that Lance would ever admit otherwise - but he didn’t have anyone to impress that day, so he walked confidently through the ship towards the figure at the back.

“Hey, name’s Lance. You doing okay?”

The other’s head turned so fast it startled him. Almost as much as his actual face did.

“...you?”

“Keith?!” Lance yelped, jumping back. “What the  _ hell _ are you doing here?”

“Um. Ship broke.” Keith, the real Keith, right in front of Lance’s eyes, cleared his throat. “Well, sorta. Still works, but it won’t start. Only mechanic nearby with the propulsor I need said she’d take a week to get here. So. Thanks.”

And after saying more words in one breath that Lance had ever heard him say in a month, he picked up his bag and walked ahead to the piloting area. Lance was so shocked that he let him.

“That’s not what I meant!” He called, following after Keith with long strides. “Why are you here, so close to Earth? You never visit!”

Keith’s face turned as red as his ship. “Visit you? You’ve never invited me to visit you.”

“Not me, you absolute madman. Earth? You always stay over the holidays.”

“Oh. I had some stuff to do this time.”

Lance waited for an answer. Keith didn’t volunteer one. Lance wasn’t able to keep up a staring contest either, Keith’s eyes entirely too big and shiny to do so. With a sigh, he walked back to the pilot chair and let himself fall gracelessly on top.

“You’re  _ not _ touching the controls.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Keith protested, but Lance waved him off, climbing against the armrest to glare at him.

“I mean it. Not now, not later, not if I doze off and a quick turn is the only thing that can save us from an incoming asteroid collapse. This is my ship, not your ship. No touching. Zero.”

“I know,” Keith repeated, softer now. “I really owe you. I’d never get back on time without you. I’m not going to take advantage of your kindness.”

That sounded sincere. Too sincere. Lance couldn’t deal with it. Was Keith giving him puppy eyes now? 

“Yeah, okay, let’s just stay out of each other’s way. There’s blankets tied up on the first compartment to the left. We took out the copilot chair to get more space, so you’ll have to make do for the time being.” Not that Lance would be any more comfortable. There were no beds, and his ship happily informed him that he was still a couple days away. Yay. A couple days with Keith.

Alone.

In space.

With nothing around to distract him other than the warp engine and the homework he forgot to finish.

He was  _ never _ picking up a hitchhiker again. Keith could arrive two weeks late to class if he wanted to.

Two hours later, neither of them had said a word, but Lance could feel Keith glancing at him from time to time. His own eyes were stuck to the screen, where he’d relegated the ship’s display to a corner and opened his homework, but it was easy to notice the other boy. He’d decided the best space on the whole ship for sitting was right next to Lance. Because of course he had. If Lance moved his head halfway to the right, they’d be making eye contact.

Lance did his best to ignore him and not think whether Keith was judging the time it took him to solve the questions. That meant looking either straight ahead, or to the left.

He glanced to the left more often than not.

And one of those times, the wall wasn’t empty.

“...Keith, I don’t want to startle you, but I think there’s a lizard on the ship.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Lance turned to look back at Keith.

“‘Oh, yeah’? Keith, where the  _ hell _ did it come from? We’re in space! Random lizards don’t just show up!” He turned to point at the lizard. It was gone. “Great. There’s a  _ space lizard _ lost in my ship now. Fantastic. Peachy.”

Keith unfolded himself from his crouch and stretched, apparently uncaring about the potential predator in the pod. His shirt stretched over his chest, making Lance reconsider his previous assessment about Keith being skinny. Aaand he had a lizard to find, not an enemy to ogle. He stood up and and walked behind Keith towards the cargo compartment.

“Lance, chill. It didn’t just show up. It’s my lizard.”

“Your lizard.” Lance repeated slowly. “You snuck some sort of alien lizard into my ship? Without even telling me?”

Keith scoffed loudly. “It’s not like you asked, I didn’t think about it. He’s harmless.”

“If your pet alien lizard kills me, I’m haunting your ass til the universe’s cold, cold death.”

Keith ignored him, crouching by a dark corner. He seemed to have a lizard detector, because when he stood up, the lizard was in his hands. Lance managed to give him a good look before, to his horror, Keith shoved it into his pocket.

“Are you even listening to me? Keith, I can’t pilot us to the Garrison with a black market pocket alien!”

“He’s not an alien, he’s a regular gecko! Have you never seen one?” Keith huffed back, returning to his blanket pile in two long strides. “The Garrison doesn’t have a policy against pets.”

“Because no one’s crazy enough to try to get one in!” Lance ran his hands through his hair. “Oh my God, you can’t be serious. This is a disaster.”

“He’s not a disaster, his name is Sisebut. And you don’t need to do anything, I have enough crickets for him to last the whole trip. I’ll sneak him in on my on.”

“What are the crickets for?”

“Lunch.”

“Oh, great.” Lance sat back down on his seat and curled up. “A cricket infestation in my ship.”

“They’re synthetic, they’re not going anywhere.”

Lance grumbled. He couldn’t throw Keith’s pet into the vacuum of space. He couldn’t throw Keith’s pet’s food, either. The lizard hadn’t done anything. The fault was Lance for happily letting them all in without asking. He’d have to learn to sleep fearing the feeling of a lizard climbing on his neck.

He almost screamed when he felt something run through his head. But, to his surprise, it was Keith’s hand, softly petting his scalp. It felt nice. Enough that he didn’t question it for a couple of seconds.

“Um, dude. What are you doing?” he asked, looking up and back as far as his current position and his neck would allow him.

“...they’re sticking out weird. The hairs. After you did the... thing.” Keith was going red again, immediately moving his hand away. “Sorry. A reflex.”

“No way, go back to it. I deserve some compensation for all the trouble,” Lance replied, latching onto Keith’s wrist.

Keith stood still for a moment. The awkward expression in his face right then seemed more natural that any of the variants of a scowl Lance was used to seeing on him. It was nice. Keith had a nice face. Not that Lance hadn’t been bitterly aware of it beforehand, but it was easier to appreciate him when Keith was a blushing, stuttering mess. Or when he went back to carefully petting Lance’s hair. Lance could feel his nerves calming down already.

Without further ado, he went back to his homework, Keith went back to intermittently watching Lance and acting like he wasn’t watching him. The ship continued to move between the stars without interruption.

They paused to eat some hours later, exchanging the bare minimum of words possible. Fortunately, Lance’s mom always went overboard with the stockpiling, so he had more than enough for the two. Even if they were nothing but awfully healthy, nutritive packages instead of chips and candy like Lance himself would have chosen instead. Everything tasted like oatmeal. 

Keith ate without complaint and fed Sisebut next. Lance had to accept the creature was not all that menacing chilling on top of Keith’s hand.

“Can he do any tricks?”

Keith looked up, an eyebrow raised. “What?”

“Tricks. You know, like pets do? Or are lizards too basic for that?”

“He’s not basic, he’s very smart.” Keith’s hands curled protectively around Sisebut. “He doesn’t do tricks because he doesn’t want to.”

“So you’ve tried to teach him. Called it.” Lance grinned. “Well, cats never want to do any tricks either, so I guess I can’t argue with that.”   
“I guess.”

Lance cleaned up after dinner, telling Keith to just keep his creatures controlled. Keith insisted the crickets didn’t move. Lance insisted he better made sure they stayed that way. The space inside the ship was already somewhat tight for one person; two meant they had to either lie almost side by side, or curl around the pilot chair.

The pilot chair tempted Lance, because Keith was taking off his shirt and Lance didn’t want to find out if his bisexuality was stronger than his strong personal animosity towards Keith. The desire to sleep with his legs stretched won out, though, so he set his blankets as close to the cargo section’s wall as he could. Then he turned all the way to face the wall and not Keith’s abs.

“Lights, down.”

_ Lights at 15% _

“Wait, I haven’t finished changing!”

“Tough luck, buddy. I need my beauty rest.” Keith’s t-shirt landed spitefully on his face. He threw it back. “Hey,  _ hey _ , what kind of manners are these?!”

“Oops, sorry, couldn’t see,” came Keith’s reply, his tone light. “Thanks for giving it back, it’s Sisebut’s bed.

“You’re nasty, I hope you know that.”

“Takes one to know one.”

-

There are no mornings in space. There are, however, preprogrammed times for light changes to avoid completely fucking one’s sleep schedule, and that was as good as a morning. And that morning was a comfortable one. Warmer than a metal floor with a couple thick blankets used to be.

It was a cozy morning, too. Lance didn’t want to move.

Lance wasn’t sure he could move either. He stirred, and something pulled at his stomach. Oh, God, he was trapped. A breath against the nape of his neck. Trapped, and about to be eaten. He knew the lizard couldn’t be trusted.

“‘ance, stop,” came a grumble behind him. The arm around his waist pulled him closer. Lance tensed up, and after a second he felt the body behind him relax further.

Great. Keith was spooning him. No reason to panic. Keith was shirtless and spooning him and his arms were nice and if Lance hadn’t accepted his sexuality a couple years ago, he’d be having a panic attack now.

“Keith, buddy, I’m not sure who do you think you’re hugging, but I doubt it’s me. You should reconsider,” Lance told him, trying to turn inside Keith’s grip. Damn, did he lift or what? “If you freak out on me I won’t be responsible.”

Keith readjusted his position, letting Lance turn, but not releasing him. His face was completely smushed against the blankets, and he had acquired some impressive bed hair. He was frowning even as he slept.

Geez, he was cute. Had Lance always noticed? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t like it. Keith didn’t like him.

“Keith, you’re seriously gonna have to let me go. I need to pee.”

Keith’s grip didn’t change. Not a morning person, then. Maneuvering slowly, Lance eventually managed to slip outside. Keith latched onto a pillow right away. Cute.

Yeah, okay. Lance was now one of the many students at the academy with a crush on Keith. He was sure he'd be able to turn it into yet another reason to dislike him back in class.

It was just a bit hard to do so now, with his hard spread everywhere.

Lance decided to check on the lizard. Also sleeping. Also cute. Clearly someone had cursed Lance. He went to check on the ship's scanners to not dwell any further.

They were getting to a more densely populated area. Some extremely alien ship IDs were getting picked up by the radars, but that was nothing new. After running some routine diagnostics, Lance went back to his homework. He was running out of problems, and his head kept turning to where Keith was sleeping, now splayed on top of both his blankets and Lance's. After completing the second to last exercise, Lance started considering going back for a nap.

Sisebut, however, had other ideas. His idea seemed to be run straight at Keith's face and walk all over his torso, so maybe not that different of an idea. Regardless, it woke Keith up. Lance watched as he sat up, picking up the lizard, and looked around in confusion.

“Nice of you to wake up,” Lance called over. Keith turned around in place to look at him. “You're in my ship, remember? Yours crashed? You owe me big time?”

Keith smiled at him. He clearly hadn't woken up quite yet. “Yeah.”

“Ok, so you clean up, and we can have breakfast.”

Keith nodded. He took ages to get up - not that Lance was watching. His movements were still sluggish, unlike Lance, who had his self care morning routine down to a science. Lance had to wonder if he remembered the spooning incident at all.

In theory, they'd arrive the next morning. In practice, nothing was stopping Lance from switching around some ship parameters and giving himself a 29 hour day while Keith was distracted.

Other that he didn't really want to.

After that morning, most of the day was lackluster. Lance was tense around Keith, which was... nothing new. Keith acted weird. Also not new. The hours ticked by. Homework was over. Lunch was quiet.  _ ETA 10.5 hours _ .

“Can I pet your hair again?” Keith asked after a full hour of nothing but pseudo-ignoring each other.

“What?” Lance most definitely didn't squeak. They were back on the cargo section, since Lance had nothing to do on the cabin. He thought Keith might return there, but they'd both ended up staying. “Why?”

“Um, compensation?” Keith ventured. And a moment later: “and it's soft.”

“Soft?”

“Your hair.” Keith paused again. He shuffled closer. “So, can I?”

“Uh. I guess. It's a free, eh, quadrant.” Yes please.

And just like that, Keith's hand was back. Probably messing his hair up, but also sending happy shivers down Lance's spine. Wow, Keith was a weirdo. A weirdo who knew how to appreciate good hair care, but a weirdo nonetheless. Sisebut has happily sitting on Keith's shoulder, there was no excuse.

“You really like pets, don't you?” Keith mused.

Lance's eyes shot up - oh, why had he closed them - and he gave Keith a look. 

“You offered!”

“Well, yeah, but you don't like me.” Keith's fingers stilled.

“Hey, don't stop now.” Lance batted at Keith's chest. “It's you who's always acting like you're too good to hang with people like me.”

“I'm- What?” Keith moved his hand away, to Lance's displeasure. “We've never had a conversation!”

“Yeah, because you powerwalked away to do more important things every time. Don't pin this on me.”

“That's not- that's not the correct reason.”

“Ah? So you admit it!” Lance turned around fully to poke Keith on the chest. “You've been acting like you're too cool for me since day 1!”

Keith stared at him for a second.

Next Lance knew, he was kissing him.

That was- weird. Nice-weird. Nice. Kissing Keith was nice. Even with chapped lips and tasting like nutrition packs. Keith was kissing him. Blue had to be malfunctioning, because Lance was sure the artificial gravity engine had been turned off.

And then, it was over.

“Lance, I have a crush on you,” Keith announced right after. 

Nope, the gravity was definitely still off. 

“Your what?”

“On you. I like you. I never know what to say to you, so I always run off.” Keith was blushing. Thinking back to it, when combined with a glare, it was a pretty familiar look on him. “I'm never going to do cool stuff, it's to think cool stuff to say next time.”

Lance nodded.

“...you're not gonna say anything.” Keith huffed. “Yeah, okay, the rest of the trip is going to be awkward now. Whatever. That wasn't a very cool way to say things.”

“No, no, it was cool,” Lance interrupted. “I mean, it's cool with me. That you like me. It's cool. I like you.” He paused. “Well, I'm not sure. It's a recent development.”

Keith's expression went from dejected to suspicious to hopeful in a moment. Lance decided he liked the last one the best.

“You do?”

“Not like, like-like you. Well, maybe. I do like you. I think. You're cute. Even with the lizard.”

“Sisebut is cute.”

“Not the point. But, yeah, you're easy on the eyes, and cute-awkward, and I've always thought you were really cool, so.” Lance took a deep breath. “Let's date.” Keith looked at him in silence. “...or not. That was too fast. We can do something else, like kiss, or go back to acting like we don’t know each other, and-”

“No. Let’s date.” Keith smiled. Jeez, whoever let him be that pretty? “Let’s definitely date.”

Well, Lance guessed it was okay. Since Keith was his boyfriend now.

“Yeah. And I guess our first date is going to be sneaking your illegal lizard into the Garrison.”

Keith’s smile grew even bigger. “Of course.” 

“You sure you wouldn’t rather send him back to Earth? Not that I have nothing against a life of smuggling and piracy. I just expected a more spectacular introduction to it.”

“What, and forsake my beautiful lizard son? Nope.”

“Ew. Nerd,” Lance replied, and kissed Keith again.


End file.
